Western voters expect a balanced approach to public lands management
Polling across the Rocky Mountain West has shown that an Outdoor Voting Bloc has cemented itself as a strong bipartisan force and an influential factor in election outcomes. Issues involving access to public lands, parks, and wildlife are a priority for Western voters and play a significant role in influencing how voters choose candidates. Politicians of wide-ranging ideologies now take pains to demonstrate their support for public lands.
The Winning the West poll by the Center for Western Priorities demonstrates that public land conservation is a winning campaign issue throughout the West. The 2023 poll results demonstrate that connecting with Westerners requires candidates to strike the right balance on public land conservation, clean energy, and recreation issues. Voters in Mountain West swing states like Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada say that conservation issues are of enormous importance to them. Additional polling, such as the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project’s Conservation in the West Poll, demonstrates the same trends: voters in the West are increasingly concerned about public lands and environmental issues, and want elected officials who align with these priorities.
Polling consistently shows that strong majorities of Western voters across political parties are outdoor enthusiasts who care about public lands and consider themselves conservationists. Almost 90 percent of Western voters say they visited public lands in 2024, 72 percent say they prefer their members of Congress emphasize conservation over energy development, and 89 percent support keeping existing national monument designations in place. This support is consistent across political parties, with four out of five self-identified MAGA supporters saying they want to keep existing national monument designations in place.
The Trump administration’s attacks on Americans’ public lands fly in the face of this widespread bipartisan public support. The administration is trying to sell off Americans’ land to wealthy out-of-state landowners and foreign corporations at the expense of the American taxpayer. These actions will cut off access to public lands, destroy wildlife habitat, and threaten Americans’ access to clean water. Given the strength of the outdoor voting bloc and the bipartisan popularity of public lands, these actions are facing growing backlash in the West and will remain a strong priority for Western voters in upcoming elections.